Side mounted starter



March 13, 1962 J. HAMMAN SIDE MOUNTED STARTER Filed Aug. 22, 1960 A w ll INVENTOR LYLE J HAMMAN I ll /l III ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice,

3,024,780 Patented Mar. 13, 1952 3,024,780 SIDE MOUNTED STARTER I Lyle J. Hamman, Eaton Rapids, Mich, assignor to Eaton Stamping Company, Eaton Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Aug. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 51,099 4 Claims. (Cl. 123-185) The invention pertains to a starter for internal combustion engines and particularly relates to a manual starter for small internal combustion engines of the type normally employed with rotary lawn mowers and the like.

The popularity and development of the rotary lawn mower has led to considerable changes in the design and construction of the internal combustion engines employed therewith. In that a lawn mower is often pushed beneath bushes and other low hanging objects, a low silhouette is of advantage and engines having vertically disposed crankshafts are usually employed with this type of mower to lower the center of gravity and the total height of the machine. The starters employed with these engines are usually of the rope-pull type and may be either manually wound or recoil wound with a spring about a reel which is concentrically located upon the engine structure above the engine flywheel. In that the flywheel is usually located above the engine body and the starter mounted above the flywheel, it will be appreciated that a substantial portion of the vertical height of the mower results from the starter structure.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an internal combustion engine starter which is mounted upon the side of the engine .and, hence, does not add to the overall engine height.

A further object of the invention is to provide a manually operated engine starter which is of relatively simple and inexpensive configuration and which may be attached to the side wall portions of an engine.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a manual internal combustion engine starter employing a pinion gear engageable with a toothed engine flywheel wherein the pinion gear engages the flywheel only during the starting operation and automatically retracts therefrom upon release of the manually operated means.

Another object of the invention is to provide an internal combustion engine employing a starter rope and recoil mechanism wherein unwinding of the starter rope reel axially translates a pinion gear into engagement with an engine flywheel and after engagement therewith will rotate the pinion gear to start the engine.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an internal combustion engine starter employing a starter rope reel and recoil structure wherein the direction of the pull of the starter rope may be selectively adjusted relative to the engine component engaging portion of the starter.

These and other objects of the invention arising from the structure and relationships of the components of an embodiment thereof will appear from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the starter of the invention showing the pinion gear partly sectioned to illustrate the friction member,

FIG. 2 is an elevational view, partly in section taken along section II-II of FIG. 1, of the starter structure in accord with the invention as mounted upon an engine having a top mounted flywheel rotating in a horizontal plane,

FIG. 3 is a detail elevational sectional view of the pinion gear as shown in the flywheel engagement position and FIG. 4 is a sectional elevational view of the starter of the invention as taken along section IVIV of FIG. 2.

As seen in FIG. 2, the starter of the invention may be mounted to the vertical side Wall of an engine 10 having a top mounted flywheel 12 which is attached to the upper end of a vertical crankshaft, not shown, and rotates in a horizontal plane. The flywheel 12 may be formed with blower vanes on the upper side and teeth 14 are formed on the underside thereof. Teeth 14 are engaged by the pinion teeth of the starter as will be later apparent.

The starter consists of a housing having two interconnectable portions 16 and 18 which may be connected together by screws. The housing portions are preferably castings and the portion 16 is provided with bosses 20 having holes therethrough whereby screws or bolts 22 may attach the starter to the engine side wall 10.

A shaft 24 is mounted within the housing portion 18 and extends in a horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 2. A gear wheel 26 is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 24 and held thereon by a snap ring 28. Gear wheel 26 is provided with radially extending teeth 30 and is also formed with an annular groove 32 forming a reel portion integral with the gear wheel. A starter rope 34 is wound within the annular groove 32 and the groove is of a width substantially equal to the diameter of the rope. A hole 36 is defined in the wheel whereby the inner knotted end of the rope may be attached to the gear wheel. An orifice is provided in the housing portion 18 through which the free end of the starter rope extends for attachment to a pull handle 38. A spiral recoil spring 40 is concentrically wound about the-boss 42 in which the shaft 24 is mounted and one end of the spiral spring is attached to the gear wheel and the other end is aflixed to the housing boss 42. Therefore, as the handle is pulled away from the housing 18 the unwinding of the rope upon the reel will rotate the gear 26 and wind the spiral spring. Release of the pull handle permits the spring to unwind and rewind the starter rope within the groove 32 in the fashion well known with recoil starters.

A shaft 44 is rotatably journaled within the housing portion 16 and is provided with an end portion 46 which extends exteriorly from the housing. A gear 48 is keyed to the shaft 44 within the housing and upon assembly of the housing portions 16 and 18 the teeth of gear 48 will mesh in driven relationship with the teeth of the gear wheel 26.

As will be apparent from FIGS. 2 and 4, the axis of shaft 44 is disposed perpendicularly to the axis of the shaft 24 and the axis of shaft 24 will intersect the axis of shaft 4 1-. This relationship is of significance in that the configuration of the housing portions 16 and 18 at their joining line 58, FIG. 1, is that of a square concentric to the axis of shaft 24 and as the screws attaching the housing portions together are also located in a similar square relationship to each other the housing portion 18 may be assembled to the housing portion 16 in any one of four positions angularly disposed at to each other about the axis of shaft 24. This construction permits the starter rope pull direction to be selectively adjusted in accordance with the particular engine environment being used therewith and the relationships between the axes of shafts 24 and 44 permit proper engagement of the gears 26 and 48 in any one of the four positions. It will be appreciated that by using a circular joining line configuration and another type of fastening means an infinite number of angular relationships between the housing portions 16 and 18 may be achieved.

The end portion 46 of the shaft 44- is provided with a key pin 52 which extends through a bore within the shaft perpendicularly disposed to the longitudinal axis thereof. A pinion gear 54, preferably constructed of nylon and having a bore 56, is mounted upon the shaft portion 46 for a relatively rotatably and axially slidable movement thereto. The bore of pinion 54 is provided with a double spiral groove 58, each spiral groove being engaged by 3 one end of the key pin 52. Teeth 60 are defined upon the periphery of the pinion gear and these teeth are complementary in configuration to the teeth 14 defined upon the engine flywheel.

The pinion gear 54 is provided with a concentric downwardly extending portion 62 having an annular concentric groove 64 defined therein. A wire braking or friction member 66, as best shown in FIG. 1, having one end formed in a circular configuration partially circumscribes the groove 64 and is fitted therein such that the circular portion snugly grips, due to the resilient characteristics thereof, the groove surface. The friction element 66 is also provided with a radially extending portion 63 and an end portion 70 extending at right angles thereto in the direction of the housing. A pair of spaced abutment projections 72 are defined upon the housing portion 16 and the wire friction element portion 70 and is received therebetween whereby rotation of the friction element 66 about the axis of shaft 44 is prevented, yet the friction element may move axially with respect to the housing.

In operation, the starter is mounted upon the engine such that the teeth 60 of the pinion gear are vertically disposed below the flywheel teeth 14. Upon the operator pulling upon the starter rope handle 38, the gear 26 will rotate the gear 48 and, hence, the shaft 44. Initial rotation of the shaft 44 will cause the key pin 52 within the spiral grooves 58 to tend to rotate the pinion gear 54. However, due to the frictional resistance to rotation imposed upon the pinion gear by the friction element 66 the pinion gear will be held against rotation and the key pin rotating within the spiral grooves 58 will cause the pin-ion gear to axially translate upwardly to the position shown in FIG. 3 without rotating the pinion gear. Such action causes the pinion gear teeth 69 to mesh with the flywheel teeth 14.

The pinion gear spiral grooves 58 are formed such that upon proper engagement of the teeth 14 and 60 the key pin 52 will engage the lower end of the spiral grooves and, hence, a positive keyed connection between the pinion gear and shaft 44 will take place. Further rotation of the shaft 44 in the cranking direction causes the pinion gear to rotate against the frictional resistance of the friction element and will rotate the flywheel 12 and start the engine. As the engine starts, it will tend to rotate the pinion gear 54 much more rapidly than produced by the manual starting pull and this rotation will cause the pinion gear to rotate relative to the shaft 44 and key pin 52 in a direction to lower the pinion gear away from the flywheel. The operator then releases the starter pull handle and the recoil spring 40 rewinds the starter rope into the reel groove 32. Upon release of the starter rope handle the friction element 66 will cause the pinion gear to move downwardly with respect to the key pin and upon engagement of the underside of the pinion gear portion 62 with the upper surface of the housing 16 the pinion gear will rotate with the shaft.

It will be appreciated that the disclosed starter may be employed with internal combustion engines having a flywheel located in the lower engine regions, in other words, beneath rather than on top of the engine. Such modification may be achieved merely by reversing the mounting of the starter housing upon the engine whereby the shaft portion 46 extends downwardly and the housing portion 13 is reversed 180 relative to the housing portion 16 that the starter rope pull will still be in an upward direction.

It is understood that various modifications to the invention may be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and it is intended that the invention be defined only by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A starter for an internal combustion engine comprising in combination a housing, a first shaft within said housing, a first gear wheel rotatably mounted on said shaft, a starter rope receiving reel operatively associated with said first gear wheel having an axis coincident with the axis of said shaft, a second shaft rotatably supported within said housing perpendicularly related to said first shaft, a second gear fixed to said second shaft in engagement with said first gear, one end of said second shaft extending from said housing, a bored pinion gear rotatably and axially movable mounted on said second shaft end, a spiral groove defined in the bore of said pinion gear, a key fixed to said second shaft end slidably received within said spiral groove, means keying said second shaft to said pinion gear at a predetermined axial position thereon and friction means operatively associated with said pinion gear resisting rotation thereof.

2. In a starter as in claim 1 wherein said starter rope receiving reel is formed as an integral part of said first gear wheel, a starter rope within said reel wound thereon and extending through an opening defined in said housing, a rope handle alfixed to the rope end extending through said opening and a spiral spring concentrically arranged within said housing about said first shaft having one end affixed to said first gear wheel and the other end afiixed to said housing.

3. In a starter as in claim 2 wherein said housing consists of first and second interconnected portions, said first shaft, first gear wheel, reel, rope, handle and spiral spring being mounted in said first housing portion, said second shaft and second gear being mounted on said second portion, the axis of said first shaft intersecting said second shaft and fastening means symmetrically related to said first shaft connecting said portions whereby said first and second housing portions may be selectively assembled in a plurality of angular relationships about the axis of said first shaft.

4. In a starter for an internal combustion engine, in combination, a housing having first and second interconnectable portions, a first shaft mounted in said first portion, a first gear mounted on said first shaft, means selectively rotating said first gear extending from said first housing portion, a second shaft mounted in said second housing portion having an end extending exteriorly thereof, a second gear mounted on said second shaft, a pinion gear mounted on said second shaft extending end, upon assembly of said housing portions said first gear drivingly engaging said second gear, the axis of said first shaft being perpendicular to and intersecting the axis of said second shaft and means selectively interconnecting said housing portions in a plurality of angular relationships about the axis of said first shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,782,644 Wiseman Feb. 26, 1957 2,926,648 Hamman Mar. 1, 1960 2,938,511 Pike et al. May 31, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 556,894 Canada May 6, 1958 566,013 Canada Nov. 11, 1958 819,473 Germany Oct. 31, 1951 

